Baiju

Biography

Family Background and Early Years

Baiju was born into the Mongol Jalair aristocracy. He was a fifth-generation descendant of Muqali and a grandson of the Yuan Grand Councilor Antong. His father died when Baiju was five, and he was raised by his grandmother, Lady Kereit. She imposed strict discipline and repeatedly reminded him of the achievements of his ancestors and the majesty of the emperor, warning him not to become arrogant because of his rank.

When Baiju was around twenty and serving in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and Ceremonies, an official came to his residence seeking a signature while Baiju was watching entertainment in the rear garden. Because he came out late, his grandmother sharply rebuked him for neglecting public business. Baiju blamed himself and thereafter became still more self-disciplined. The source attributes much of his character to her instruction.

Entry into Office and Early Career

In 1309, Baiju inherited command of the imperial guard. In 1315 he was appointed to the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and Ceremonies and successively received a series of high ranks and titles. During these years he cultivated Confucian learning and frequently invited Confucian scholars to discuss ancient and contemporary ritual, music, criminal law, government, political order, and disorder.

Before Shidibala became emperor, he once asked which officials in the imperial guard were worthy. Baiju was highly recommended. The crown prince sent a messenger inviting him to converse, but Baiju declined, saying that because he commanded the emperor's guards, private dealings with the Eastern Palace could expose both himself and the crown prince to suspicion. The story was presented as evidence of his caution and understanding of ministerial propriety.

A Senior Minister under Emperor Yingzong

In the third month of 1320, Emperor Yingzong ascended the throne and appointed Baiju to a senior post in the Secretariat. During an audience with princes in Daming Hall, Yingzong ordered him to read ancestral instructions said to have been preserved in a golden casket. Baiju was described as dignified in appearance, composed in bearing, and clear in speech.

In the fifth month, officials including Shiliemen and Yelishiba, wife of Yaoshumu, were implicated in a plot. Yingzong secretly summoned Baiju to discuss the matter. Baiju urged swift action, arguing that people who had long monopolized power and disrupted government would otherwise gather allies and threaten the state. Yingzong accepted the advice and ordered Baiju to lead guards in arresting and executing the conspirators.

That same month Baiju became Left Grand Councilor of the Secretariat. Grand Empress Dowager Dagi supported Right Grand Councilor Temüder, who had built a powerful political faction. Baiju and Yingzong cooperated in resisting it. Temüder was accused in the source of corruption, selling offices, killing ministers, and building a network of partisans. He attempted to have senior officials Wang Yi and Gao Fang executed over damage to grain stores in the capital. Baiju privately argued to the emperor that senior ministers should be judged on their responsibility for government rather than minor accounting matters. Yingzong agreed, and the two officials escaped execution.

Temüder also promoted Zhang Siming to strengthen his own faction. When Baiju's attendants warned him that Zhang and others were plotting against him, Baiju replied that his ancestors had served the state loyally for a century and that he should focus on fulfilling his duty to ruler and people rather than seeking private revenge. The source uses this episode to portray him as placing public affairs above personal grievances.

Sole Grand Councilor and Reform

In the autumn of 1322, after the deaths of Temüder and Grand Empress Dowager Dagi, Baiju was promoted to Right Grand Councilor of the Secretariat and placed in charge of state historiography. Yingzong wished to grant him one of the Three Excellencies, but Baiju declined. The emperor then left the office of Left Grand Councilor vacant, giving Baiju sole leadership of the Secretariat.

Baiju recommended Zhang Gui for renewed service, recalled retired senior officials on generous stipends, and had them discuss policy in the Secretariat. He selected officials without rigid regard for customary seniority and made the appointment of the able and dismissal of the mediocre a daily priority. Concerned that the laws were inconsistent and officials lacked a common standard, he requested a thorough review and codification. This process culminated in the promulgation of the Da Yuan Tongzhi.

He also emphasized education, regarding schools as a foundation of political instruction, and asked officials throughout the empire to discuss measures for improvement. When Yingzong asked whether Buddhism could govern the realm, Baiju replied that quietism and transcendence might be suitable for self-cultivation, but abandoning benevolence and righteousness in governing the realm would disorder the fundamental human relationships. When Yingzong asked whether there were still remonstrating ministers like Wei Zheng of the Tang, Baiju answered that water takes the shape of its vessel: a ruler like Emperor Taizong of Tang, who accepted remonstrance, would produce a minister like Wei Zheng. Yingzong praised both replies.

Baiju also sought to restore ritual and music. The source states that construction of the imperial ancestral temple had begun in 1277 (the fourteenth year of the Zhiyuan era) and that forty years had passed while the emperor had still found no opportunity to personally rehearse the sacrificial rites. He urged the emperor to personally perform ancestral sacrifices, invoking the saying that ritual and music flourish only after a century. In the tenth month of 1322, Yingzong personally sacrificed at the imperial ancestral temple, with Baiju acting as Defender-in-chief in attendance. The emperor credited Baiju's advice with the restoration of the ceremony, and the source describes the event as a revival of ritual practices long neglected.

Assassination

Although Temüder had died, his associates remained at court. In the twelfth month of 1322, Temüder's son Balijisi, then head of the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs, was executed in connection with the Liu Kui land case. In the second month of the next year, Liu Kui and Nangjiatai were also executed. Tieshi, Temüder's adopted son, and other allies became increasingly fearful. In the sixth month of 1323, Tieshi and others tried to persuade monks to argue that the state faced calamity and needed Buddhist rituals and a general amnesty. Baiju rebuked them, saying that they sought wealth and wished to shield the guilty. Temüder's remaining faction then intensified its conspiracy.

Tieshi and others formed close ties with Dawlat Shah, an intimate of Prince of Jin Yesun Temur, agreeing to enthrone Yesun Temur if the plot succeeded. On the fifth day of the eighth month of 1323, as Yingzong traveled south from Shangdu and reached Nanpo, about thirty li away, Tieshi and fifteen others launched a coup with support from Asud guards under his command. The conspirators included senior military and civil officials as well as several Mongol princes. They first killed Right Grand Councilor Baiju and then murdered Emperor Yingzong in his quarters. Baiju was twenty-six years old according to the source.

Early in the reign of Emperor Taiding, the Secretariat memorialized the throne that Baiju had died while loyally serving the state. He received a long series of posthumous honorifics, was created Prince of Dongping, and received the posthumous name Zhongxian. Early in the Zhizheng era, the honorifics were revised and the posthumous name changed to Wenzhong.

Major Activities

Political Reform

After becoming Right Grand Councilor in 1322, Baiju carried out reforms with Yingzong's support. He restored Zhang Gui to office, recalled retired senior officials to advise in the Secretariat, selected personnel without rigid adherence to convention, and emphasized the appointment of capable officials. He sought a systematic codification of law, resulting in the Da Yuan Tongzhi. The source further credits him with reducing taxes and corvée, eliminating redundant posts, restricting channels for opportunistic profit, and improving conditions for soldiers and civilians. It states that after repeated droughts and floods since the end of the Yanyou era, his tenure restored discipline, reduced burdens, and brought relative prosperity.

Restoration of Ritual and Music

Baiju urged Yingzong to perform rites personally at the ancestral temple. In the tenth month of 1322, Yingzong conducted a full ancestral sacrifice, with Baiju acting as Defender-in-chief. At the following spring sacrifice, the emperor appeared in ceremonial dress amid elaborate music and processions. The source treats this as the restoration of ritual practices said to have been neglected for a century.

Remonstrance and Livelihood Policies

Baiju repeatedly remonstrated against imperial extravagance. In the first month of 1321, Yingzong planned decorative structures, lanterns, and a banquet for the Shangyuan festival even though the court remained in mourning. Zhang Yanghao submitted a memorial of protest; Baiju encouraged him, carried the memorial into the palace, and persuaded Yingzong to abandon the plan. The emperor then rewarded Zhang for speaking frankly.

In the third month of the same year, Yingzong wanted to enlarge Hengli Hall at the traveling palace in Shangdu. Baiju warned that the region was cold, that agriculture began only late in the year, and that a major building project immediately after accession would disrupt farming before the emperor had even learned the people's hardships. Yingzong accepted the advice.

During the Yanyou era, severe wind and snow in the northern steppe killed livestock and displaced the population. Baiju argued that the northern region was the ancestral homeland of the ruling house and proposed the establishment of the Zongren Guard to resettle refugees. He also asked local officials to redeem people who had been sold into slavery and resettle them under the guard.

Supervision of State History

In the second month of 1323, Baiju presented the Veritable Records of Emperor Renzong. The day before presentation, he went to the Hanlin Historiography Academy to hear the text read. In the account of events from 1307, he objected that the contribution of the Left Grand Councilor Harghasun to the enthronement of Emperor Wuzong had been omitted while Prince Tula's decisiveness was emphasized. Baiju ordered the account revised to restore Harghasun's role and corrected other passages he considered incomplete. The source states that contemporaries admired his judgment.

Conflict with Temüder's Faction

Throughout Yingzong's reign, Baiju opposed Temüder's faction. While Temüder was Right Grand Councilor, Baiju repeatedly restrained actions he regarded as abusive. After Temüder's death, Baiju pursued members of the faction, including Balijisi, Liu Kui, and Nangjiatai. Fear of further punishment contributed to the plot by Tieshi and others that culminated in the Coup d'état at Nanpo and the killings of Baiju and the emperor.

Personal Relations

• Muqali: fifth-generation ancestor and founding commander under Genghis Khan.
• Antong: grandfather and prominent Yuan Grand Councilor.
• Lady Kereit: grandmother, titled Lady of Ping; strict in his upbringing.
• Dalama Shuoli: elder son; rose to command the Zongren Mongol Imperial Guard.
• Yana Shili, also called Dulin Temür: younger son; held several high military and judicial offices, including command of the Zongren Guard and service in the Bureau of Military Affairs.
• Emperor Yingzong Shidibala: trusted and employed Baiju; the two pursued reforms together and were both killed in the Coup d'état at Nanpo.
• Emperor Renzong Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan: Baiju entered government service during his reign and held ceremonial offices.
• Emperor Wuzong Khaishan: Baiju inherited command of the imperial guard during his reign.
• Emperor Taiding Yesun Temur: enthroned after the Coup d'état at Nanpo; later rehabilitated Baiju.
• Zhang Gui: recommended by Baiju for restoration to senior office.
• Zhang Yanghao: adviser whose remonstrance against palace festivities Baiju encouraged and forwarded.
• Wang Yi: senior official saved from Temüder's attack by Baiju's intercession.
• Gao Fang: senior official likewise protected by Baiju's intercession.
• Harghasun: Left Grand Councilor whose role Baiju ordered restored in the Veritable Records of Emperor Renzong.
• Temüder: Right Grand Councilor and political opponent; his remaining faction later launched the Coup d'état at Nanpo.
• Tieshi: Temüder's adopted son and principal organizer of the coup who killed Baiju.
• Zhang Siming: Assistant Grand Councilor who served Temüder and sought to undermine Baiju.
• Shiliemen: court official implicated in a plot and executed after Baiju led guards to arrest the conspirators.

Historical Assessment

Yuan / Contemporary

• The History of Yuan, in its biography of Baiju, praises him for forgetting private interests out of concern for the state, speaking frankly, restoring institutions, reducing unnecessary burdens, benefiting soldiers and civilians, and assisting Yingzong in energetic government.
• Early in Emperor Taiding's reign, the Secretariat praised Baiju for having “given his utmost loyalty in service and fallen at the hands of a band of villains” and requested posthumous honors.
• Late-Yuan historians treated him as a representative “Mongol Confucian official,” whose reforms were interrupted by the coup but remembered favorably.

Ming and Qing Periods

• Ming historians grouped Antong and Baiju among the worthy Grand Councilors of the Yuan, praising Baiju for understanding institutions, supporting humane rule under Yingzong, and maintaining integrity despite his violent death.
• Zhao Yi discussed his conduct in Notes on the Twenty-Two Histories, praising him for holding to rectitude and refusing to join corrupt factions.
• Bi Yuan's Continuation of the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance records that Baiju loved Confucian learning and consulted Confucian scholars on government, praising him as having the manner of an ancient great minister.

Modern Period

• Modern Yuan historian Xiao Qiqing has described Baiju as one of the relatively few Mongol aristocratic statesmen who sought to govern through Confucian methods; his short-lived reforms reflected efforts by the “Chinese-law” tendency within Yuan politics.
• Yao Dali has argued that the reforms pursued by Baiju and Yingzong affected the interests of Mongol pastoral aristocrats and Semu merchants and that the Coup d'état at Nanpo represented a backlash by conservative forces.
• Scholarship commonly treats Baiju's death as a major setback for reform in the middle Yuan period, after which the political situation deteriorated further.